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Don Wilton

Don Wilton, recently retired from 30 years as senior pastor of First Baptist Church, Spartanburg, South Carolina, returns to NOBTS as ministry-based Professor of Preaching and Pastoral Ministries.

Wilton’s (THD ’86, MDIV ’82) long ministry of preaching and teaching has spanned continents, making an impact for the kingdom from behind the pulpit as well as through print and broadcast media. Known as Billy Graham’s pastor, Wilton was close friends with Graham and served on faculty for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association Schools of Evangelism and The Billy Graham Training Center at The Cove for many years. Prior to his tenure at FBC Spartanburg, Wilton taught evangelistic preaching for eight years on the NOBTS faculty.

As president of The Encouraging Word television ministry, Wilton’s sermons have reached into millions of homes both nationally and globally. As noted at the FBC Spartanburg website, Wilton continues to live out his conviction that “evangelism is incomplete until the evangelized become the evangelists.”

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Women Leading Well: Stewarding the Gift of Ministry Leadership

By Emily Dean

Empowering and encouraging women to lead is vital to a growing church. Women are gifted for ministry and are called by God to serve. This book is a resource for the complementarian church and focuses not on leadership titles, but rather intends to help women discover and develop leadership skills for serving in whatever leadership opportunities in ministry they may encounter. [Lifeway, forthcoming June 1, 2023]

Christian Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Systematic

By Adam Harwood

Biblically faithful and historically informed, this book provides a fresh synthesis of the essential doctrines of the faith: revelation, God, humanity, Christ, the Holy Spirit, salvation, the Church, and Last Things. The church has been entrusted with God’s revelation and to steward the word of truth. With readable prose, suggestions for further study, and discussion questions, this book will equip pastors and students to clarify and articulate what they believe and why. [Lexham Academic, 2022]

Let This Mind Be In You: Exploring God’s Call to Servanthood

By James K. Dew Jr.

Let This Mind Be in You explores God’s call on our lives to servanthood. Aimed specifically at ministers of the gospel, this book argues that servanthood is essential to every form of Christian service. When we consider the teachings of Scripture and the example of Jesus, we simply cannot be who we are supposed to be without taking the posture of servants. [B&H Books, forthcoming June 6, 2023]

When Did Jesus Become God: A Christological Debate

By Robert B. Stewart, Michael F. Bird, and Bart D. Ehrman

The question of when Christians came to believe Jesus was the divine Son of God is the central focus of this book. Ehrman holds that early Christians believed very early that Jesus was divine although neither Jesus nor the apostles believed Jesus was divine during Jesus’ lifetime. Bird maintains that the early church from the beginning saw Jesus as the preexistent Son of God, human, Israel’s Messiah, and the exalted vice-regent to God the Father. Stewart provides a helpful historiographical primer and analysis to help readers navigate the positions held by Ehrman and Bird. [Westminster John Knox, 2022]

Nobts Professors Win Book Awards

Two New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary professors drew top honors from The Gospel Coalition and from the Southwestern Journal of Theology for books published in 2022.

Tyler Wittman, NOBTS Associate Professor of Theology, garnered The Gospel Coalition’s top award in the category Academic Theology for his work, Biblical Reasoning: Christological and Trinitarian Rules for Exegesis, co-authored with Robert B. (Bobby) Jamieson.

Adam Harwood, NOBTS Professor of Theology, received the Book of the Year award for Christian Theology: Biblical, Historical, and Systematic marking it as the top pick overall in 12 categories.

‘CREE!’ GATHERING BRINGS HISPANIC COMMUNITY TOGETHER AT NOBTS

Cree! (Spanish for “believe”) drew more than 500 Hispanic pastors, staff members and lay leaders to New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary July 15-16, 2022 in a first-ever gathering to encourage and equip Hispanic church leaders.

Representatives from churches across Louisiana and Mississippi attended the two-day event hosted by NOBTS, the New

Orleans Baptist Association (NOBA), and Louisiana Baptists. Pastor Otto Sanchez, long-time pastor and director of the Dominican Baptist Theological Seminary in the Dominican Republic, was the keynote speaker.

Fabio Castellanos, event coordinator and director of the Spanish Online Education Programs at NOBTS, said the conference was well received.

“There is a great thirst for the Word of God in the Hispanic people,” Castellanos said. “God is using his tools such as the New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary, NOBA, and Louisiana Baptists to prepare His servants to walk with Christ, proclaim His truth, and fulfill His mission.”

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Southern Baptists were venturing to Las Vegas in 1989 for the SBC’s Annual Meeting, a controversial location due to the city’s negative reputation. Many reportedly threatened to boycott the meeting, but others recognized the intent—to emphasize evangelism and make an impact for the gospel in the host city.

“The intent that is being made to witness to the people in Las Vegas is a unique feature of this convention,” John Wright, chairman of the SBC Committee on Order of Business, said at the time. “One of the justifications for choosing Las Vegas is the influence we might be able to [have] on the unbelieving community. Our desire is to strengthen our work in the area through our presence.”In that spirit, the Home Mission Board, now the North American Mission Board (NAMB), worked to encourage what was then labeled an “evangelistic blitz” during the week leading up to the meeting. The event became an annual effort called Crossover hosted by NAMB in conjunction with state, associational and local church partners. Following the inaugural Las Vegas outreach, it has taken place every year the meeting has been held, and an estimated 40,000 professions of faith have been recorded in its history.

Preston Nix, Professor of Evangelism and Evangelistic Preaching, was a part of the very first Crossover and has participated in the outreach effort more often than not since then.

“We were out there in Las Vegas and the churches needed help, encouragement, and here were Southern Baptists coming to Sin City, to Las Vegas,” recalled Nix. “So, it was set up so that we would have evangelism training in the morning and then go out sharing the gospel. It was over 100 degrees, and I think that’s the most I ever sweated sharing the gospel.”

As Crossover has endured several different permutations, Nix has been an eager evangelist throughout its 33-year history and looks forward to welcoming Southern Baptists back to New Orleans ahead of the 2023 Annual Meeting.

From 2009 onward, Southern Baptist seminary students have been able to come together and spend the week learning